Mud Lake

November 30, 2019

It was a beautiful late fall day, so we went to Mud Lake without any high expectations.  We came upon some others who had just photographed a Meadow Vole, but, although we caught a fleeting glimpse, we were unable to get a shot.  So we had to content ourselves with Dark-eyed Juncos and House Finches.

Billings Bridge

November 20, 2019

A quick visit to the skin doctor's gave us the opportunity to scan all the ducks at Billings Bridge. As usual, Mallards predominated, but careful searching revealed a couple of Wood Ducks and several American Black Ducks.

Further downstream were several Common Mergansers and a few Hooded Mergansers.

Tufted Duck

Nov 16, 2019

Jon Ruddy found a female Tufted Duck at Shirley's Bay on Nov 15. All our friends went and got it, but we were tied up with family business.  Finally, in mid-afternoon, we took some time out to go for it.

I scoped all around and could not spot it, only groups of Common Goldeneye. Meanwhile, Barbara spotted an unusual duck with her camera, that I never saw.

Adàwe Crossing Harlequin Duck + Fletcher Wildlife Garden

Nov 3, 2019

It was drizzling steadily when we went ot look for the Harlequin Duck at Adàwe Crossing.  But the forecast for the rest of the week was even worse, so we  used bags to protect our cameras and headed out.

We spotted the subject straight away downstream of the bridge and moving away farther and farther.  We split up, each going down a side of the river hoping for it to come close.  It drifted slightly closer to Bill's side, but Barbara was closer to the Common Goldeneyes.

Suddenly, the Harlequin took off and headed upstream.  We hurried back to the bridge where we saw it fly right up past us to the upstream side, then drift back down. 

We chatted with Derek and Janet, then decided to go to Fletcher, but not before talking with Sami and Lynn who were just arriving.

At Fletcher, we saw the usual suspects, but not the Fox Sparrow that others had seen.